They don’t wear top hats, suspenders or pinstripes. They don’t carry canes. But they’re definitely wailing a love song written circa 1920 at the tops of their lungs in perfect four-part harmony: “As long as you’re not in love with anyone else, why don’t you fall in love with me?” The crooning is coming from FOURtunes Fools, Northwestern’s only barbershop quartet.

McCormick sophomore Jared Kassebaum, who sings bass, and Weinberg senior Zachary Ranger Rogers, baritone, are joined by Speech freshman Devin DeSantis, tenor, and Speech sophomore Michael Mahler, lead.

The quartet sings songs “from antiquity,” says Mahler. Singing melodies like “Love Me And The World Is Mine,” they’ll compete in July in the MBNA America Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest, held in Portland, Ore.

The contest, sponsored by the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (hailed on its Web site at www.spebsqsa.org as the “world’s largest all-male singing society”), will host 21 college barbershop quartets from the United States and Canada. SPEBSQSA representatives expect about 10,000 members to attend the week-long convention, held from July 2-6.

FOURtunes Fools won the regional competition held in Peoria, Ill., in March, placing ahead of one other quartet for the chance to compete at the national level.

“I’m hoping that we can make the top five,” Kassebaum says.

The Fools’ venture to Portland will be a community effort. They’ll fly to Portland from their respective homes (Kassebaum and Rogers from Belleville, Ill.; Mahler from Minnesota and DeSantis from Colorado), funded by a scholarship from the regional competition and donations from NU.

Coached by area barbershop singer Ron Rank, the group will also be wearing tuxedos on loan from a Belleville men’s chorus.

FOURtunes Fools is the latest incarnation of a group originally composed of Kassebaum, Mahler, Rogers, and Music senior Andrew Dahan. Called the Dateables, “We were notorious last year for practicing in the stairwell of Jones (Residential College) and waking people up,” says Mahler.

The group still can be heard outside Jones on spring evenings, belting out music from the turn of the century – as in 1900.

Isn’t that music a little … dated?

“Once you get into it, it’s cool,” says Kassebaum. “A lot of barbershop is just singing about girls. It’s either a girl you’re in love with or a girl you used to be in love with and then she left you.

“And it’s about hanging out with old men. Old people love us,” he says.

“It’s exciting, and at the same time, it’s traditional,” said Mahler. “When we went to Peoria, all of these old guys who have spent their whole lives singing barbershop were so excited to hear us. They told us that we were their hope – we were keeping barbershop alive.”

When the group performed as the Dateables during Fall Quarter, area barbershop quartet singers came, “in droves,” says Mahler. “They’re so supportive. They were cheering their heads off – it was great.”

Response on campus has been equally positive. At the all-a cappella concert at McCormick Auditorium in April, “People shot to their feet when we were done,” says Mahler. “They’re always blown away.”

Weinberg freshman Julia Benjamin waited until the end of the McCormick show to hear the quartet. “They remind me of strolling in a park with an ice cream cone,” Benjamin says. “They’re great performers and they interact with the audience.”

As a first-time barbershop singer, DeSantis was surprised and impressed by students’ reactions.

“People love it,” says DeSantis. “I don’t think they ever expect the sound we make.”

According to Mahler, four blended voices can match the vocal power of a larger a cappella group.

“If you do it right,” he says, “you can make four guys sound really enormous. The chords are so tight – they ring when you sing them.”

But barbershop isn’t just tightly wound harmonies and resonating chords.

“We’re judged on our stage presence, on how we interact with each other,” says Kassebaum. “We have to tell the song’s story.”

Rehearsing a song means “driving it into our brains so it becomes second nature. Then we can focus on presentation,” Kassebaum says.

Choreographed gestures, matching costumes (white tuxedo jackets for the Portland competition) and jokes are incorporated into the performance.

Still, the group maintains its freshness.

“It has to be well-rehearsed but it’s also very spontaneous,” says Rogers.

“Some of the motions are planned, but some of them are in-the-moment things,” says Kassebaum.

Is college barbershop making a comeback?

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” says Mahler. “Even if the quantity (of groups) isn’t enormous, the quality is getting better and better. Listening to some of the groups that we’ll be seeing in Portland – they’re incredible. It’s an honor to be there.”

For the members of FOURtunes Fools, at least, barbershop is here to stay.

“I was talking to Mike the other day, ” says Kassebaum, “and I said, ‘You’re gonna be singing this when you’re 50, aren’t you?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’

“It’s too much fun to stop doing any time soon.” nyou